THE MUSIC IN HER HEAD!

From very early in life, Olivia has had a secret wish to be something grand!  She would dream of even being famous but what really interested her was just doing it!  Just being it!  The famous part well,  if it came,  it came,  but it was truly unimportant.

From early on, she would wander away from her siblings and friends,  find an isolated spot and then begin to let the music flow in her mind.  She knew where the music came from,  she had heard it one summer night from the big open windows of the bungalow on the farm where she lived.  It came from the box with the flickering lights and the voices.  Maribel, one of the ones who fed her and cared for them all, was there in front of the box sitting transfixed.  It was there she had heard the music but how it stayed in her head, she had no clue. For as long as she could remember she had the music in her head.  And that was not all,  upon hearing the music, Olivia craned her long slender neck further and further until she could clearly see into the window.  The flickering box made the music but there was also movement!  Beautiful movement and Olivia fell in love with the dance.  She stood in total absorption taking in every part of it.  She knew she would never in her whole lifetime see anything so fine again.  She captured it all, in her mind, and now she wished to become like the movement on the flickering box.

Today Olivia stood at the edge of the pond and looked at the image that looked back at her.  She could see some similarities,  long legs,  the fluff around her middle,  her long neck,  even her large expressive eyes.  She had a good start on her dream but she must begin to try the movements.

She began with just one foot off the ground.  She could not imagine both legs off the ground on purpose but she would try it all.   Everything she remembered seeing.  She began slowly at first trying to move the way she remembered.  The way everything looked so wonderful, smooth and nice.  The music was very important,  it all seemed to go together. 

Olivia would steal away from the group each morning after feeding time and try her best and she was improving.  Well, improving from her point of view meant she could do the movement for longer and longer.  Her legs were very strong, she knew that, but asking them to do strange things, well, it took some getting used to.

She was finding it near impossible to bend her legs in some of the ways she remembered but she was doing wonderfully,  doing the circles and getting on the tips of her toes.  She thought jumping high enough to get her whole body into the air would be trouble but she was surprised when her strong legs did it with ease.  

She had started off slowly but had picked up the speed as she felt more comfortable doing the movements.  She loved this feeling!  Olivia knew she was not doing things exactly as she remembered but she loved the smooth feeling of her body moving to the music in her head!

~~~~

Maribel had noticed a few times that Olivia was wandering off and she wondered where she went.  She was responsible for the safety of Olivia and her group so she followed her down the lane.   Not too far away behind a large group of boulders with trees and brush growing around Maribel came across Olivia.  Yes, she was here but what was she doing?  Olivia’s eyes were closed and she was moving, graceful turns and now even a jump! 

“Oh my goodness!” Maribel thought,  “ she isn’t just moving, she’s dancing!”

Maribel watched for a long time.  She loved ballet and she recognized some of the movements, the routines or steps.  She was astounded!

She quietly backed away and went back up the lane trying to imagine what was going on!  How could this be happening?  

That evening she decided to follow Olivia the next time she wandered off from the group.  She would bring her video camera and try to record this so she could convince her own brain that she wasn’t imagining things.

It was only two days later that Maribel saw Olivia head down the lane.  She grabbed her camera and followed quietly behind.  

There in the clearing Olivia was moving with more confidence and more pure joy than ever before.  As Maribel filmed she began to comment or narrate what she was seeing.   

“This is one of the ostriches on our farm.”  

“Her name is Olivia!”

“She is dancing without the assistance of music!”

“This is amazing!”

“She begins with an adagio,  she is very graceful using her wings for flow and balance.”

“Now she has incorporated an en l’air!”   “It is so surprisingly graceful!”

“Oh my, she is speeding up, moving as allegro would be in ballet!”  

“Now a wonderful pirouette!”

This is just mind boggling!   Of course it is an ostrich version of ballet but the grace and strength,  even with the strange two toes of an ostrich she did a marvelous en point!

Hurrying back to the bungalow, Mirabel cannot decide what she wants to do with this information.   Olivia seems very happy here and somehow she has found inside herself a way to be at peace and very happy.  If she tells others, Olivia could become a curiosity, a sideshow oddity.  Is that what would be best for Olivia?

~~~~

Maribel wasn’t sure yet what she wanted to do, but she was certain being an ostrich freak was not a good thing,  she also knew she wanted to encourage her as it really was enchanting!  The dance in a whole new way.  She wanted to encourage her to hold her head higher, use her neck to emphasize grace, clean and fluff her feathers so they really looked like a tutu,  but WHY?  Really, why?  Did there have to be a why?   Maybe just the mutual joy it would provide was reason enough.

Maribel played the music over and over, trying to keep the melody in her mind.  She had decided to join Olivia but did not want to startle or frighten her.  She practiced for a few days and the set about watching for Olivia to steal away again.

Finally the morning arrived when Olivia headed down the lane as she had so many mornings before.  Maribel followed quietly at a safe distance, humming the music softly.

As she came around the boulders, Olivia was well into the joy of the dance.  Maribel slowly joined her, getting closer and closer and trying to follow the movements.  Olivia’s big eyes were closed and she seemed to be in a dream state.  Maribel hummed the melody a bit louder and a bit louder.  Suddenly Olivia realized there was music beyond what was in her head.  Her great eyes flew open, her eyelashes fluttered,  she stopped so suddenly she almost fell over her own feet!  But then she watched in awe as her kind keeper, the one who fed her everyday, danced the way She wanted in her heart to dance.  Maribel took her wingtip and began moving,  Olivia followed along, she knew most of this dance but together they were beautiful.  

Maribel took her own hand and lifted her own chin, tilting her head up in a very graceful way.  Olivia did the same.  And so it went, the whole morning in pure joy.  Both dancing and one learning and both loving it.  

Finally Maribel stopped humming the music.  They stood looking at one another knowing this was a rare and special thing they had just shared.

Maribel walked away and as she turned to pass the boulders she looked back over her shoulder and said,  “see you tomorrow, my ballerina!”